chocochiporeo169's+Universe+research+paper

__Theories About the Universe __

 The universe is a very controversial topic when it comes to the theories there are. We know many things about the universe such as: the universe is basically 4.6% atoms (which are what we are made of, what stars are made of, and what all objects in space are made of), 23% dark matter, and 72% dark energy. Also, we know that our universe is mostly empty space full of many galaxies. We know many other facts about the universe, but when it comes to the creation of the universe, its shape, and its destiny, we aren’t sure. After all, we only know what is happening now and so far, there’s no way to be sure about our past, future, or what is outside of this universe. The possibilities are endless and are called theories, but you need to have evidence to back it up in order for others to consider your possibility.

__**Theories of Creation of Universe **__

The most popular theory to the creation of the universe is the Big Bang. This theory believes that the universe started out as a hot speck, the size of a proton (the second smallest part of an atom) in a place where neither light nor time existed and there was no outside, just the inside of the speck. Then, suddenly the speck inexplicably inflated into a universe which gazillion years later became the universe we know today. Many things support this theory, such as, cosmic background radiation and the expansion of our universe. Cosmic background radiation was discovered by Robert Wilson and Arno Penzias and is said to be the leftover energy of the Big Bang that is still in our universe because there was so much energy released during the explosion. Another piece of evidence is the inflation. Inflation is the theory that our whole universe is quickly expanding instead of it being infinite. Inflation is also said to be another of the “side-effects” of the Big Bang. The Big Bang could have probably not been the beginning of the universe. There probably could have been time and light in existence before the Big Bang, maybe even a whole other universe before the Big Bang. Physicists Neil Turok and Paul Steinhart came up with a new theory of the creation of our universe. Many scientists think that our world has 4 dimensions (3 for space and 1 for time). But Neil, Paul, and several others think that we are living in a world that is very flexible and that has 11 dimensions (these “hidden” 7 dimensions may be too small to see), called a Brane world. Our Brane world is said to be flat and stretched off into infinity and is separated by a gap of space from another Brane

world in an extra-spatial dimension. The other Brane world could be a fourth of a centimeter away from our world but we just can’t see or touch them. Every trillion years or so, they say that our Brane world and the one parallel to ours bump into each other causing a Big Bang. Then, dark energy takes another trillion years to spread the energy out. Next, the Brane worlds flatten and come together again causing another Big Bang. This is said to happen endlessly, like a cycle, which is why it’s called the cyclic theory. With each Big Bang, the universe starts again creating atoms, elements, stars, and galaxies. This means that the Big Bang could’ve been a collision. Cosmic background radiation also supports this theory, because in the Big Bang and the cyclic theory, there is a Big Bang giving off extreme amounts of energy. Near the end of 2011 we will know which theory is more probable because of the Planck spacecraft. The Planck spacecraft will determine if there are gravitational waves (using its sensitive sensors), which is what supports the inflation, and if so, it makes the Big Bang even more believable, ruling out the cyclic theory. If there aren’t any gravitational waves, it will support the cyclic theory and rule out inflation.

__**The Shape and Expansion of our Universe **__

Another mystery is the shape of the universe. Our universe could be in the shape of a sphere, saddle, and maybe even be flat. Since there’s no way of being able to step out of our universe and see its form, all we have for now, is to observe the things inside it- which could help us come to a reasonable guess to how it may be shaped. The density not only determines the fate of the universe, but also determines its shape. If the universe’s density is greater than the critical density, the universe is kind of like a sphere. If the universe’s density is less than the critical density, the universe is shaped like a saddle. And finally, if the universe’s density is equal to the critical density, the universe is flat. It is not determined if the universe is infinite or if it is inflating, but a lot of evidence, such as, the Doppler Effect, supports that the universe is inflating. The Doppler Effect is the connection among speed and wavelength. For example, if a plane is coming towards you, its engine seems to have a higher pitch because as it’s coming towards you, it is shortening the sound <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">wavelengths. When it’s going away from you, it’s elongating the wavelengths, making its engine seem to have a lower pitch. The Doppler Effect also appears in light waves. Astronomers measure the wavelengths of light to see if a galaxy is coming toward us or moving away from us. If the galaxy is moving away from us, the galaxy will have a redder appearance because the wavelengths are longer- which is called a red-shift. If the galaxy is moving towards us, it has a bluer appearance because the wavelengths are shorter- called a blue-shift - which is what Edwin Hubble discovered. Since many of the galaxies surrounding us are moving away from us, astronomers think that there might be some sort of <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">inflation going on. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">Others also think of these moving galaxies not only as evidence of <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">inflation, but also evidence of that the universe is accelerating outwards (seems to be growing at an increasing rate) because of some mysterious force called dark energy. Dark energy is this undefined energy that astronomers know exists but just don’t know what it’s made of or how it looks like, it’s just invisible. With he universe expanding because of this inexplicable force, it makes more space, which means there’s more force (dark energy) spreading the galaxies apart faster and faster.

__**<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;"> The Fate of our Universe **__

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">The competition is on to determine the ending of the universe we live <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">in, between gravitational pull and the expansion of space. If gravity wins, the universe will collapse. If expansion wins, the universe will just go on expanding forever. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">Some say that the Universe will have no end. They think that the universe will just continue until all the stars burn out because there will be no more Hydrogen and Helium, which makes stars glow. There will be no new stars, so the universe will become a dark and extremely cold place that is made mostly of dark energy. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">Others say that the universe will collapse because of gravity's pull, pulling all the galaxies and objects in space to the center of the universe in 100 billion years. This would cause everything to merge into a humongous fiery ball. It would start out with the collision of our nearest galaxy (the Andromeda galaxy). This would take 2 million years and create a huge new galaxy from the remains of both galaxies. After the collision, gravity would slowly pull everything to the center causing everything to collide, creating a starry ball or a massive black hole. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">After all, we will never know until it actually happens. We do not have the evidence or any way to look into the future so any of these possibilities could be the future of our universe. Currently, a lot of evidence is pointing toward the universe expanding forever but a Big Crunch is just as possible. Do not worry; humans will probably be extinct way before any of these things occur.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">The universe is probably the greatest mystery. We barely know anything about it: we don’t know what dark energy and dark matter are even though it makes over 90% of our universe, we don’t know if there is something beyond our universe, how our universe was formed, the shape of our universe, the reason for all the things inside it, and much more. All we can do is come up with theories to at least try to explain these questions, for example, the theories showed in here. All of these theories have the science and the math to back them up, but how do we know which one is true? Either theory is very likely, but so far there is no way to surely prove which one is correct. Was there time before the Big Bang? Are we living in an infinite or expanding universe? What is the fate of our universe? We may never know. We’ll just have to wait and see…

__**<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">References: **__
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">1. Dickinson, Terence. “The Universe and Beyond”. Richmond Hill, Ont.: Firefly, 2010. Print.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">2. Hawking, S. W. “The Universe in a Nutshell”. London: Bantam, 2001. Print.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">3. "How Will The Universe End? (With A Bang or A Whimper?) - TIME."

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">4. Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">- TIME.com. Web. 10 Jan. 2011. <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,996611,00.html>

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">5. "The Story of Everything." Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking. Discovery Channel. 2010. Television.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">6. "What Happened Before the Beginning?" Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman. Science Channel. 30 June 2010. Television.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">7. Tully, Brent. "NOVA Online | Runaway Universe | How Big Is the Universe?" PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. 14 Dec. 2010. Web. 31 Jan. 2011. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/universe/howbig.html>.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">8. "WMAP's Introduction to Cosmology." Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP). 11 Dec. 2010. Web. 31 Jan. 2011. <http://wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/>.